Chapter 7: To His Rescue

A year went by and they grew closer than ever. One evening after school, Punit invited Anki over to his house. He had to force her rather. Being an introvert, meeting new people just wasn’t her thing.

His parents looked strict and much older than their age that at first sight, she thought they were his grandparents. Later on, she learned that Punit was a child they were blessed with quite too late, more like two decades after their marriage.

Anyhow, they were very kind and extremely courteous. They made her feel at home and stuffed her with a lot of tea and snacks.

When Punit’s turn came to visit Anki’s house, his knees were knocking together. He really feared her dad, Mr. Ratan, and he had no clue why. Maybe because of the glare he gave people through those rimless spectacles. He also looked too strict. Whenever he spoke, it sounded like a war general’s instruction.

Her mother, however, was really sweet. Just like his parents, she too stuffed him with his favorite cappuccino, coleslaw, and sandwiches.

They started visiting each other quite often and learned a thing or two about each other. For instance, Ankita had a thing for soft toys, animal figurines, and tall, hot men with sexy beards. Her bedroom wall had a poster or two of celebrities like Abhishek Bachchan and Hrithik Roshan.

She also had a cute Labrador puppy named Vijay. He was really naughty and drooled all over Punit.

Punit, however, had dainty things like dry flower arrangements, pastel-colored bedsheets, and a steel-stringed acoustic guitar on the wall which he had no clue how to play. His walls and room, unlike Anki’s, were clean. Not even a single poster littered the wall and his room was extra tidy and well-organized.

Ankita really liked his guitar and offered to teach him how to play it. His joy knew no bounds. After all, they were going to do a LOT of performances together, going forth.
Around four years passed by.
Punit and Anki were in the 10th grade by now. They were classmates and were never seen without each other.

Punit had grown much attractive, taller, and lankier, whereas Anki too had shot up in height compared to the other girls. Though pretty, she preferred to dress simple, unlike the other girls who tried to flaunt it at every chance they got.

Also, thanks to Anki and her sidekicks (which included other girls and boys), Sibal and his cronies never dared to get too close to Punit all these years. However, this morning, was different.

On his way back from the washroom, Punit found himself cornered by Sibal and his cronies.

“Hello princess, long time no see,” Sibal drawled and leaned onto the wall.

Punit panicked and struggled to stand rooted. Besides Sibal, there were five of them. He was in a way bigger, or at least equivalent to those guys in height, but there was no way he could fight all of them.

“Where’s your girlfriend?” he straightened up and slowly approached Punit with his beefy hands in his pockets.

Punit took a few steps back.

“How come you’re alone today? Huh?” he faked sympathy.

“She’s been with Mr. Beardo since morning,” said one of his cronies. ‘Beardo’ was how they disrespectfully addressed their music instructor Mr. Andrews. As it implies, he had a thick beard.

“Oh, I see! I should have known! You must be really brave; you actually dared to go to the loo without her.

The others laughed, boosting Sibal’s sick pride.

Meanwhile, Punit’s eyes darted around, looking for a gap to escape.

The bell announcing the end of the mid-morning break rang and he knew that he was in trouble. His heart thumped hard in his chest. It was fight or flight. As far as ‘fight’ was concerned, he was outnumbered.

In one quick move, he attempted to bolt through them to haven.

They smoothly botched his attempt.

“Whoa-whoa-whoa! Where do you think you’re going, huh? Huh!” Sibal barked at him while the cronies held him in place.

“The bell… the bell…” Punit was sweaty and breathless.

“The bell. What bell?” Sibal teased him. He was inches away from Punit now.

“The bell. N-N-Need to get to class…” Punit struggled to stay calm.

“Or else what? Hmm?” Without any warning, Sibal threw an ear-splitting slap and flung him hard against a wall.

Punit collapsed to the floor, reeling from the collision.

“Get up!” Sibal ordered and cornered him once again.

By now, other students had noticed the commotion and stopped to watch. None of them dared to raise their voice against Sibal.

Punit clambered on all fours, still dizzy from the impact. “Don’t… please…” he gasped.

“’Don’t please’ what?” Sibal sneered.

“Don’t…” he shuddered.

Sibal bent over so that he was close to his face. “You’re nothing but a wimp hiding behind your androgenic girlfriend. Do you know that?

With that, Sibal and his cronies tossed him back and forth like a dead dog, landing a punch or slap wherever they could lay their hands on, and not even a single person stepped forward to stop this atrocity.

***

Ankita was disturbed. She looked lost as she cradled her guitar and stared blankly at Mr. Andrews ahead. Come what may, she couldn’t concentrate on what her music teacher was explaining.

 
Her bandmate Jyotsana noticed that she was extra fidgety today.
It wasn’t usually so. “What’s up?” she elbowed and asked quietly.

Ankita sighed. “I don’t know, man. I can’t shake off this feeling that something’s wrong.

“What exactly?

Before she could lay out her concerns, a boy appeared at the door. He was breathless and panicky.

“Yes?” asked Mr. Andrews in surprise.

“Sir, Anki…” he stammered.

Ankita’s sat up straight, her heart racing. Something was definitely wrong.

“Sir! Punit! Sibal and his gang are beating him up!” The boy shouted.

“Didn’t you alert the staff room?” Mr. Andrews sounded annoyed.

But Ankita was out of the door with her guitar already.

***

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